Mourning for children of Vinnytsia: “They took the most precious thing from me”

As of: 07/16/2022 6:26 p.m

According to Ukrainian sources, after the attack on Vinnytsia, the number of dead rose to 24, including at least three children. Their fates attract a lot of attention.

By Palina Milling, WDR, for the ARD studio in Moscow

Pitch-black asphalt can be seen in the pictures from Vinnytsia after the fire. The buildings are without windows. The roof of the decorative cultural center with its ensemble of columns collapsed – after the rocket hit two days ago. In the neighboring houses, shocked residents clear away the rubble. The blast seems to have messed up everything in their homes.

Some of the local residents can be seen on Ukrainian television. “What happened here? The Russian world came to visit us. That’s all. We didn’t expect it. But now the war came to us,” says one. “It was a violent explosion. The cars around it were on fire. We ran, I grabbed my mother and my child and let’s just get out of the apartment.”

Vinnytsia was one of the most livable cities in Ukraine

Vinnytsia is located in southwestern Ukraine, about a three-and-a-half hour drive from Kyiv. More than 350,000 people lived there before the war began. In surveys, Vinnytsia was one of the most livable cities in Ukraine: well-developed industry, strong trade, four universities. And the Ukrainian Air Force also has its command post here.

Until two days ago, Vinnytsia was largely spared from rocket attacks. The Russian Ministry of Defense has now declared that an officers’ club had been destroyed. This probably means the glamorous culture house, which now stands without a roof. According to the city’s mayor, the concert hall is actually owned by the military, but has always been used for civilian events.

More than 200 people are said to have been injured in Vinnytsia. The number of dead has now risen to 24, according to new information from civil protection.

Two fates move Ukraine in particular: that of a little girl and her mother. Four-year-old Lisa was on her way to see a speech therapist in Vinnytsia with her mother, Iryna Dmitrieva. Shortly before the attack, the mother showed her little one on Instagram. In the video, Lisa pushes a stroller in front of her. Later, footage shows this pram and a child’s corpse next to it. The pictures go around the world.

When her grandmother Larissa hears the explosion in the city center, she experiences terrible hours. “I ran there on foot. I checked every ambulance.” She hoped to the last, but didn’t find either of them,” Larissa told Suspilne TV. Her granddaughter is dead, her daughter is seriously injured in the hospital. It’s still unclear whether she will survive.

conflicting parties as a source

Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.

Nobody has told her that her granddaughter is no longer alive. Grandma can hardly hold back her tears. “She’s a little angel, the dearest, my little one. You took the most precious thing I had from me. I don’t know how I’m supposed to go on living now. You took the most precious thing from me. The most beautiful being ever.”

Appearance in Christmas video with Ukrainian First Lady

Lisa had Down syndrome, grew up protected by the care and love of her family: her mother’s Instagram page shows her beaming in a field of lavender, cuddling with a dog and overjoyed blowing soap bubbles. The bubbly little girl even appeared in a Christmas video from the Ukrainian first lady. Olena Selenska was full of sadness.

Two more children were killed in the attack in Vinnytsia. According to official information, a boy was with his mother at the doctor’s during the attack. The other burned to death in a car while waiting for his uncle there. The Ukrainian site publishes its own statistics on war casualties among children every day. 353 have been killed since February 24th, more than 600 were injured.

Ukraine War – The Horror of Vinnytsia and After

Palina Milling, ARD Moscow, 16.7.2022 5:58 p.m

source site